He's known as the answer man

BiS Connect

Information technology, business management at South University, Barium Springs, N.C.

A.E. Beach High School, Savannah

what

A computer service technician by day — by night Tatom transforms into his alter ego “Kowboi,” a quick-witted master of ceremonies.

number of years

9

services

Restaurant/bar trivia and karaoke, 11 shows a week throughout Savannah and Wilmington Island.

other services

DJ at parties at weddings and special events and venue sound and lighting.

the trivia/karaoke phenomenon

“I think people are just looking for something to do. I’ll tell that to a bar owners if I walk into a bar and they ask me for my advice and what I think and what they should change about their bar to build up nightlife … A lot of people are unwinding.”

job satisfaction

“It’s definitely a job, but it’s definitely gratifying because at the end of the day, I know that people have come out and have had a good time, and I know the bar owners have made money, and I’ve made a little bit of change myself. And that’s what it’s all about.”

Kowboi

“When I become Kowboi, I mean literally, it is absolute therapy. If I’ve had a rough day, I just take it to work with me and take it out on people, and they love it. And that’s the funny part. It’s what the crowd digs, and it helps me being me.”

grab the attention

“I try to keep it as fun as possible. I try to keep it fast-paced, and keep people tied in. I’m not saying that everybody out there is ADHD, but if you keep them too long, they leave and they don’t come back.”

word of mouth

“It’s one of those things now where I don’t have to go looking for work. It’ll come to me. I’ll pick up gigs from other trivia companies that have failed or are just not bringing a crowd or holding a crowd, and they’ve heard my name, and they’ll ask me to come do it and I just completely turn it around on them, and make them money.”

the “old” days

“When we first started doing trivia, we were doing it without a PA system, and we were shouting out the questions just with our voice.

“Then we went to using a guitar amp with a microphone, to the point where I purchased a PA, and I put in a laptop.

“One of the crowd favorite things that I do is ‘Name That Tune Trivia,’ where I pull music that I have and play 15 to 20 seconds of a song, and people have to guess what that song is, artist and title.

“That’s a category I do every week because it gets such good response, and everybody seems to enjoy it, and I think technology helps.”

an entertainment business

“I’m very business minded, and I’ve gone to school for a lot of business classes and just understanding business in general. I’ve run other businesses and numerous of my own businesses along the way and understand the value of the dollar and what it takes to survive in 2013 now.”

work, home … and work

“It’s a juggling act. Between day job, night job, family and trying to have a social life, the business becomes a social life. I’m in bars. I’m in restaurants, and that kinda becomes my social life.”

crowd control

“It came pretty naturally. I did a lot of radio and tv for a little while, so it was kinda natural to host. Radio and tv are different because you’re not in front of an actual crowd, but on any given night, I could have from 25 to 200 people in some of these places, and I don’t get nervous.

I just flip the switch and I become Kowboi, and that’s what I do and that’s the gig.“

building a crowd

“It’s definitely a grass-roots kind of feel because I don’t really advertise. I’ll put out flyers, but I don’t go out there and market it too heavily. Facebook has been a wonderful tool, and I do use it a good bit, and sometimes I don’t even have time to use it, but I still have people showing up at the gigs. I get those gigs because of word of mouth, because somebody knows somebody who knows somebody in this town, and that’s just how Savannah has always been. No matter how much Savannah seems to grow, it still has that grass-roots feel.”

what’s in a name?

“My logo for Five Point – it’s a nautical star. It’s always been pretty important to me. I have it tattooed on me, and I’ve always classified it as the five point of my life – with my family and so on and so forth. It’s also a symbol of chaos.

If you look at a nautical star, everything comes to the center, and when I need to find that, I look down at my wrist and see that star, and if I’m having a chaotic week or a chaotic day, I know I’m going to bring it back to the center, and I’m going to be OK.”